5th wheel nose high problem

[4wlow]

I have a 2014 ram 3500 with the 5th wheel prelp and a reese select hitch with the picture fame adapter towing a 2013 voltage 3200 with a trail air pinbox. Hitch is as low as it can go and the pin box is as high as it can go. I have 11 inches of clearance from top of bed to 5th wheel. Hitched up I am around 10 inches nose high. I know this is probably too much. Any sugestions? I already looked at other hitches like the Andersen ultimate, but that would only get me around an inch and a half lower. I plan on weighing the axles. Is my only option to raise the trailer?

[notch78]

Flipping the axles will get me 4" to 4 1/2". I already have the step for entering the trailer. I wish there was more I cold do to close the gap between the nose of the 5th wheel and my bed rails but I think I am as good as I can get. I can't get a call back from Eclipse on other pin box options. That was the last option I was trying before doing the axle flip.

[mkirsch]

Like stro1965 you're going to have to put up with some nose-high. If you jack that camper up 9" it will be tipsy on the road, and you'll be adding an additional 2 steps to the entry. This means you'll either need some wobbly stepstool on the ground to get up to the fold-out stairs, or a rickety 4-step fold-out stairs. Or, you'll have to dig a hole for the wheels where you park.

[stro1965]

I've gotten mine from 7" high to about 5 1/2", and plan on adding 2" spacer blocks between the leaf springs and axles of my trailer to get me to 3 1/2". At that point it's as good as it'll get.

[notch78]

I agree with you MK. My 11 inch was out of my own doing buying a new trailer then buying a new truck. I have already decreased the space 2 inches down to 9 but still would like to get the trailer almost level. I'm going to flip the axles just debating if I want to add a leaf spring to the pack.

[mkirsch]

stro1965 wrote:
I was riding back from Sturgis on Monday and was able to see a ton of 5th wheels being towed west on I90. I would say that 60% of them sat pin high to some degree!

Doesn't make it right. Just means that there are a lot of ignorant people out there who just blindly take the word of the RV salesman and have no idea of the issues brewing behind them.

There are also degrees to the issue. A little nose high, a couple inches, is no big deal. 11" is a big dea.

[stro1965]

I was riding back from Sturgis on Monday and was able to see a ton of 5th wheels being towed west on I90. I would say that 60% of them sat pin high to some degree!

[stro1965]

I pulled the spacer blocks from my Ram and it only dropped the rear end by 1 1/4 inches. Still sits slightly higher in the rear than in the front, but every little bit helps.

[John___Angela]

Any competent machine shop can build a "Box" on the frame of the fifth wheel and raise the suspension accordingly. probably wouldn't go higher than 4 or 5 inches in this case but thats just me. Depending on the level and how big you are looking at 400 to 800 dollars. I have been involved in a number of "lifts" where this approach worked. I'm assuming you already looked into an axle flip in this situation so I won't talk about that. I raised my own 3 inches to solve the problem. Didn't want to do an axle flip so I went with the box frame underneath.

[mkirsch]

If the truck sits level with the spacers installed, it will sag 2" without them.

I'm not optimistic that 1.5" is going to really make much difference...

[ddphillips52]

notch78 wrote:
If you pull out the spacers would you need airbags to level out the truck when you hook up to your 5th wheel?

It would depend on the pin weight of your 5th wheel and how much the rear suspension sagged.

[notch78]

Installed the shorter legs today. I will let you know how big a difference it made when I hook up to the trailer.

[notch78]

If you pull out the spacers would you need airbags to level out the truck when you hook up to your 5th wheel?

[ddphillips52]

There are spacer blocks between the axle and rear springs on a Ram 3500 that can be removed to drop the rear about 2 inches. This also makes the truck sit level instead of the normal rake. Might help. Go to the Ram Cummins forum and search "reverse level" for details.

[tinner12002]

4wlow wrote:
I have a 20k reese select slider on top of the picture frame and a trail air pin box. I like the pin box, but maybe I could get one with a lower profile. I was also looking at maybe getting 17.5 wheels and tires. I would gain a little height and higher weight rating on the tires. That is expensive though$2000 plus. I do have Chinese tires now.

That will only work if you have 8 lug wheels.